Elon hands South Carolina first loss of basketball season

Wednesday

Nov 21, 2012 at 10:04 PM

The Phoenix have two wins in seven tries against SEC, with both coming against the Gamecocks.

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA — Lucas Troutman scored 17 points and Elon pulled away in the second half to beat South Carolina 65-53 Wednesday night.The Phoenix (4-1) led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but South Carolina (3-1) cut the lead to five, 57-52, with 5:46 to play. From there, Elon capitalized on several Gamecocks turnovers and missed shots to put the game away.The victory was Elon’s second in seven tries against a Southeastern Conference opponent, and both have come against South Carolina. The Phoenix, a member of the Southern Conference, also defeated the Gamecocks last season, 58-53 at Elon.They have lost twice to South Carolina and once to Vanderbilt, Georgia and Arkansas.Troutman was one of three players in double figures for Elon, followed by Austin Hamilton and Jack Isenbarger with 13 points each.Lakeem Jackson led the Gamecocks with 14 points.Three-point shooting played a big part for Elon. The Phoenix made 8 of 15 from 3-point range while South Carolina made 6 of 19, including 2 of 12 in the second half.Elon also shot 45.6 percent (26 of 57) overall from the field to 32.1 percent (18 of 56) for South Carolina, which committed 22 turnovers to Elon’s 14.South Carolina finished with a 43-31 edge in rebounding.Elon led 31-23 at halftime after leading by as many as 13 points in the first half.The Phoenix used a 13-0 run over a span of 8:01 to go ahead 28-15 with 2:23 to play, but South Carolina closed the half with an 8-3 run, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Damien Leonard.For South Carolina, forward Michael Carrera missed his third consecutive game since suffering a concussion in practice.The Gamecocks’ first loss of the season followed victories over Milwaukee, Morgan State and Rider.The game closed out the Gamecocks’ four-game homestand to begin the season. They return to action against Missouri State on Saturday at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, as part of the Hoops For Hope Classic tournament.

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